Mechanism for sealing and capping bottles.



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A APPLICATION FILED 00T. 11, 1907,

Patented Sept. 15, i908.

2 T E E H s s T E E E s 2 FHlE.

WITNESSESI l UNiTED sTAiEs PATENT onnicn.

SAMUEL C. BOND, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, SSIGNOR, BY M ES ASSIGNMENTS, TO

BOND BOTTLE SEALING COMPANY, A CORPORATION 01" I)lI\\\'.-\ltl-).

LIECHANISM FOR SEALING AHI) CAPPIN G BOTTLES..

l To all wz om ii may con-cern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL C. Bonn, re!

siding at Wilmington, in the county ofN ewcastle and State oDelaWare, a citizen of the nited States, have invented or discovered .ortain new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Sealing and (la i ing Bottles, of which improvements the io lowing is a Speciiication. le The invention is particularly applicable to the sealing of bottles, jars, ctc. by means ol' a sealing medium contained iii a metallic cap, the lutter being provided with :i depending ilange or fingers which are caused to engage i an exterior bead or other suitable projection or projections at or near the lip of the `hott le, am thereby hold thesealing medium firmly upon the bottle-mouth. In the operation of mechanism now commonly ein loyed for 2o' applying this class of seals to iottles,the :first step consists in applying pressure. upon the top of the cap, so as to compress the scaling medium tight-ly upon the lip of the bottle; then, while the cap and the bottle are subjccted to this sealing pressure, which where the eontined contents of the bottle will generate a high pressure, must. be considerable, the instrumentalities for locking the cap llange t'o the bottle are brought into opera 3o tion, and additional pressure is thereby brought to bear upon Vthe neck of the bottle. T hese combined nessures frequently break the bottle. Furtlier, as bottles of any class vor capacity Vvary considerably in height, it 25 has been vnecessar to so construct irior y'bottle-scaling machines tliat they will be capable of exercising the necessaiy sealing pressure upon the shortest bottle. This has rendered necessary the employment of 40 springs or other compensating devices, in order to prevent the application. to a longer bottle of such :in excess of pressure ns will break it. Such compensating devices not only increase the complexity and cost of the machine, but tlie y are dillcult of accurate adjustment., and therefore often fail to perform their intended function. Also in many cases whcie the bottle is not actually broken, there has been an excess of iressure su iieientto cause the li of the bottie to fracture the sealing disk w iieh often results in an imperfeet seal. i. some prior machines, also, the insti'uinentalities employed for locking the ce f`itlange to the bottle are operated or con- 55 trollcd by the seal-compressing means, so

Specification of Letters Psi-.tent

Application tiled October 11, 197. Serial No. 396,988.

Patented Sept. 15, 1908.

that an increase in the sealing pressure will cause :in increase in theconstrictmg pressure 'applied to the ilange of a cap, which will sometimes be sutlicient to pinch oil` the top of the bott-le.

It is the object'of the prescnt'invenion to overcome these dilliculties.r find I accomplish this purpose by causing the cap-locking instruiiientalities to he .-pei'ated by the movement of the cap relu-tively thereto, land the 35 resistance of the metal of the cap-flange to the locking instrumentalities to cause the sealing medium to be compressed upon the lip oi the bottle under the necessary sealing pressure. The sealing medium is thus :ipplied to the lip of the bottle under pressure proportional to the strength of the meta-1 of the cap-flange. 'lhe proper strength of metal to accomplish the sealing 'operation being determined, the iressuro applied rcmains a constant, and the application of vdestructive excess pressure is prevented.

In the practice of my invention I have also found that ell'ective sealing can he accomplished with sealin" disks and caps of less weight than have heretofore. been employed.

ln the machine herein shown vand described, which l have chosen to illustrate an embodiment of the invention in its preferred form, the usual seal-compressing lunger" and all compensating devices have )een dispensed with, thus greatly simplifying and' reducing the cost of the machnie'as compared with prior niacliincs, while it. is at the same time enabled to act positively andwith uniformity in -each sealing operation, and with uniform results.

Iii the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification Figure 1 is an ele- 95 vation of such a capping machine having my improvements applied thereto; Figs. .3 and 3 are sectional views on im enlarged scale of the parts of the machine directly operative upon the cap, showing tlie'posi- 100 tions of sait parts at the beginning and end of the eappinv 'operation respectively; Fig. 4 is a sectional lan on a plane indicated by the line IV-I8, Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 2 illustrating a. modification 105 in the construction of the capping devices; and Fig. 6 is a sectional detail showing means for supporting hand-fed' 'caps in position tio receive the bottle-'inouth.

While in the practice of my invention adapted to engage the latter through a clutch mechanism 3, which is operated by a treadle 4. On the shaft is secured an eccentric 5 surrounded by a strap 6, which is connected to the rod 7 passing up through the standard 2, and having the head 8 secured to its upper end. The bottle to be capped is supportedupon a table 9, carried by the sleeve Alil-surrounding the standard 2', and

anism .than that shown and described'can adapted to be securedfthereon at different points'depe'ndent on the height of the bottle operateqion.

It will .be readily understood by those skilled inthe art, that other forms of mechbe employed to shift the sealing-head or the bottle-supporting table. l l j The' head 8 is formed in part by shell `11, having an enlarged lowes'portion for the re- 'ception bf the radially slotted annui/r block 12, which is held in position by the annular lug 13, rer'novably secured to the shell 11.. l`he inner walls of the pl are made flaring s'o as to .serve as a gui e for the bottle. Struts or fingers 14 are so pivotally su port'- ed in the slots in the block Y12,'which'lias an Yinternal diametersomewiiat greater than the can. radial movement, solthat when their inner ends are shifted relativel greatest diameter of thecap, that' the, portion of said-struts designed to engage the cap will be in a plane below the plane of the pivotal points of. the struts, and will lie in acircle havin Thesestrutsfare held from outward to their pivotal points, by en agement wi h the flange of the cap, such en will move in towards acommon center, until they bear against the side walls of the cap as hereinafter .;lescribed.

, riphery These struts are preferablyYV-shaped, and are pivotally supported at or adjacent to their apices. In the construction' shown their spices project between rings 15 ar' ranged in as indicated at 30, Fig. 4, to permit o their eas insertion into the grooves.

` l ile the normalkposition of the struts may be determined bv any suitably arra. ed stop, against which t e struts will move lier a cap has been secured on a bottle, it is referred to control the return movements o the a. diameterintermediate of .the greatest an least externaldiameters of 'the' ooves formed in the outer pe of t e block 12, said rings bein split struts by means of a sleeve 16 freely movable in the shell 11, and provided at. its lower end. -with a iiange 17 adapted to project between the legs ,of the struts. restson a shoulder '18 ,formed on the inner wall of the block 12, and when inthis position whereby ,the strutsare held in roper normal position is preferred, as it w form another very important function, t. e. insure the simultaneous movement or operation of all the struts. It 'has'fbeenfo'und tion. of the cap with which the struts engage, will break down at one or more laces in advance of other portions, and W en this -occurs, the cap can move towards the side first broken down, and thereby shift the flange on the opposite side either entirely from under the cap being locked upon the bottle at that point; Hence suitable means are employed to prevent any independent movement of any Vof the struts. The sleeve 16- having the will' thus perform the triple function of in-y suringethe simultaneous and equal movement of all the struts, insure the return of the struts to normal position, and hold them there. r arenioved by engagement with' the cap, the sleeve' 16 will rest on the lower legs and by its weight will cause the struts to return to has been secured on t e bottle.

an outwardly flaring flange a, preferably, as shown, at approximately right angles to the axis ofthe cap.

For the admission cf the cap to the head, and supporting it in proper positiontherein, I provide the passage 19 in the plug "minatinv in the ledge 20, Figs.v 2 an 3. 0r,

portedin the head, and a bottle having been placed on the'table 9, the head 8 is moved down, the cap andneck of the bottle passing are in a Vcircle of a diameter intermediate of corners z will in the downward mc vement of the head bear upon the flange' a.- As the head continues to move down and the cap contacts with the bottle the struts W'Jl-be nieve in until the against the side wel ofthe cap above the flange. 'As the struts are then locked This sleeve normallyv in practice, that at times the flange or por"V 'hen the inner ends of the strutsA if desired, the plug 13 may be provided withY radial spring latches 21, as shown in Fig. 6. In o eration, a cap being suitably 'suption the upper leus of the struts will rest on the flange 17 and thereby'hold the struts in proper operative positions This construc.

the struts or to such extent as to prevent flange 17 engaging as it does the struts 14,

normal or operative osition, after the cap g l Thecap which I employ is provided with i3, terthrough the plug 13. As the struts are so 4 constructed and arranged, as herein stated,'

that the portions operating on the cap, i. e.- the corners I, which are preferably rounded,`

the least and greatest diameter of the cap the i ies shifted upwardly, causing their inner ends to ortions y thereof bearv against. any further upward movement, the continued downward movement. of the head will draw the cap down over theend oi the bottle-neck, forcing the sealing disk b firmly :against the lip of the bottle. The downward pull on the cap is continued with constantly increasing force, until the llange or is'broken down. ln the breaking down of the flange. the corner c at the junction of the side wall and tlange ol' the cap, is forced inward under the bead or shoulder d of the bottle. The slitting down of the walls r/ of the struts will wipe the flange 11- down towards, but. notV against, the neck ol` the bottle bclowthe bead, 15 as no parts of' the struts pass in under the bead. or approach any nearer the bottle than at the instant ol' thc breaking down of' the flange, so that portions` of the cap wih always be at suflicient distance from the bottle to 21 permitl of its being caught. by an uneapping tool. As soon as t-heflangc breaks` down, thc struts will drop or be forced bach to normal position, and will be entirely out of contact with the cap or bottle. ln other words, the

23 completion of the act of locking the cap on the bottle prevents the exertion of any further pressure thereon.

It is characteristic of the operation of the machine shown in the drawings that the bottlc is not lsubject ed to any pressure or force except: such as is incident to, and involved in the operation of locking the cap thereto. And

further the ressure exerted in scatine the sealing disk on the mouth of the bot-tlc is pro portional to the resistance presentati by the tlange to flexure or breaking down, which should be substantially the same on all bottles ca ed* fbi e I have described and shown with 40 some particularity the preferred form of Vmechanism or applying caps, the invention as regards the broad terms of the claims is not limited to such specific construction.

z Broadly considered, my invention includes 'means adapted to engage a flange or projection on a ca and by a movement of such means, or of t 1e cap and bottle after such engagement to etleet a tight seating of the sealingdisk on the bottle, and finally the tlexure 5e ordistortion of the cap-flange whereby ity is locked to the bottle.

ln the operation of the machine described,

if the heat S be lowered over the neck of a bottle. withouta cap having been placed in iosition, no pressure will be exerted on the l ottle, `since the operation of the sealing and `locking devices are dependent upon the presence of a cap. j

In Fig. 5 is shown a construction, wherein the struts 14, when in normal position, have a pivot-al bearing on the shoulder 22 on the plug 13, and an annular weight 24 bears upon the outer endsv of the struts.` This wei ht will yield ingly hold the struts in such position as to permit, of a cap being pushed into the yielding ring formed by the corners :c of the l struts, where it will be held in position to receive the end of the bottle. Outward movement of the struts is prevented by a depending flange 25 on the annular weight. 70

The method described 'herein forms the subjectmatter of application Serial No. 414,065 tiled February 3d 1908.

I claim herein as my invention:

1. ln a machine for applyingr flanged sealing-caps to bottles, the combination witlra bottle-support, and means adapted to move inwardly to engage the cap-flange, ot"A means for moving one ol' said parts relatively to tbe other in a direction lengthwise of the bottle and thereby force the body of the ca i into sealingcontact with the lip of the bottfle.

2. In a machine for applying flanged sealing-caps to bottles, the combination with a bottle-su iport., and means adapted to engage. S5 the cap-flange only in n single intermediate peripheral line` of means for moving one of said arts relatively to thc other in a direc.- tion engthwiseof the bottle and thereby force the body of' the cap into final scaling po- 90 sition on the lin of thel bott-le.

3. in a machine for applying` flanged seal-f ing-caps to bottles, the combination nitb ait bottle-support. of means ada )ted to t :ige-ge, the cap-flange only in a single intermet'liarte 95 peripheral line, and means for moving one of said )arts relatively to the other, whereby said ange-engaging means is caused to force the bod of the cap into final sealing position on the lipof the bott-le, and to bend the flange of the cap into looking engagement with the bottle. t

4. ln a machine for applying flanged sealing-caps to bottles, means adapted to engage the cap-flange only in a. single. intermediate peripheral line, and operative by' such enagemcnt to force the body of the ca into linal sealing position on the lip of the iottle.

5. In a machine for applying flanged seal ing-caps to bottles, means adapted to envave D the cap-flange only in a single intermediate peripheral line, und operative by suoli engagement to first force the body of the cap into tinal sealing posit-ion on the lip of the bottle, and then benr'lthe flange of the cap 115'- into locking engagement, with the bottle.

6. In a bottle capping machine, the com bination of a head, a bottle support., one of said parts being movable towares and from the other, and means carried by the head and' 120 adapted'to be shifted by the cap to etl'eet the engagementof the cap with the bottle.

l. bottle capping machine, having in combination a series of radially arranged I fing s :i :aptcd to be shifted'by the cap into 125' engagement therewith, and means for moving one of said parts relatively to the other to effect the engagement 0f the cap with the bottle. 1'

8. In n. bottle capping machine, the cour-v' bination of an annular block, and a series of radially arranged cap enga g members pivotally mounted in said b oc and adapted to be shifted by the cap to effect a constrio-j4v tion of the latter.

9. In a bottle capping machine, the coni'- bination of a series or radially arranged fingers adapted to be shifted by the caA to elect the engagement of the cap with t e bottle, and meansfor plrevent-ing independent movement of any of t e lingers.

1I). In a bottle cap ing machine, the combination of a series ci) radially arranged ny gers adapted to be shiftedby the ca to eect the engagement of the ca with t e bottle, and means for yieldingly olding the fingers in position to support. the cap for the reception of the end o the bottle.

11. In a. bottle ca ping machine, the combination of an ann ar block, a sexies of V- shaped cap e aging members ivotally mounted in the b ook, and a movab e sleeve engaging said members and adapted to rehold them in normal position.

12. In a bottle capging machine, the combination with a bott e-snpport, o a head, means carried by said head and movablel inwardly .to engage thei cap for applying a or turn an vcap to a bottle, andginyielding means positivel moving one of said parts relatively 3o v"bottle-support, and means adapted to move Ainwardly to enga e the cap-flange, of means 35 for moving one o said parts relatively to the other in a direction lengthwise of the bottle and thereby force the body of the ea into sealing contact with the lin of the bott e, and then by a continuation of said movement in the same direction release the cap and bottle from further pressure. A A

n 1'4. In a bottle cappingJmachine, the combination with a head, a ottle-support, and means for moving one of said parts relatively to the other in adirection lengthwise of thebottle, of means carried by the head and adapted to be shifted by the cap to etlect the sealing engagement of the cap with the bot- 'tle, and then to automatically release the cap '50 l and bottle from further pressure.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

SAMUEL C. BOND.

Witnesses:

Timo. W. TnrGGs. Jomr F. NEARY. 

